Time to speak out
Edward Hoare suggests that Quaker faith is misrepresented by non-theism
When dipping into Howard Brinton’s The Religious Philosophy of Quakerism I came across the following piece and found myself smiling at the thought: ‘Here we go again!’ Dated 1837, the extract is from a letter written by an Orthodox Friend in Philadelphia to John Wilbur: ‘I received thy letter and am glad that there are still some yet left who are not carried away by the stream of popularity and fashionable opinions which now seems threatening to overwhelm our poor, tried, religious Society. Oh the want of weight and depth which is both strikingly evident in our Meetings, both for worship and discipline. When met to transact the affairs of the church… the pure influence of the Spirit is seldom sought after or expected, it being considered only mysticism or, at best, imaginary sensations not safe to follow.’
